In emergency management, as in other time sensitive activities, timely and accurate information is vital for use in allocating resources as well as achieving other emergency management priorities such as field assessment and analysis. Clearly, in the hours immediately following a disaster there is an urgent need for accurate information to manage the relief effort. As used herein, a disaster includes natural disasters such as hurricanes, fires, earthquakes or famine or man-made disasters such as war or terrorism. When such disasters occur, the scope of the damage is generally geographically dispersed and may affect vast numbers of people and extensive damage to infrastructure. In the time period immediately following the disaster, local resources such as police, fire protection and heath care are often inadequate to respond to all of the problems related to the disaster. Often, outside resources are required to supplement local resources and, since the disaster may be geographically widespread, it is often difficult to determine how best to allocate these outside resources.
When a disaster occurs, it is common practice to establish an Emergency Management Center (EMC) in the area hit by the disaster to collect information regarding the damage and manage the allocation of outside resources. When the disaster is widespread, such as occurs after a hurricane or earthquake, several EMCs are established throughout the region so coordinating the aid requests and efficiently allocating resources becomes a major and complicated task. These EMCs must communicate with established EMCs operated by local, state and federal agencies tasked to deal with such disasters. In addition to the EMC, individuals affected by the disaster may need to acquire information regarding their relatives or personal possessions such as a house or boat located in the disaster area.
Often, however any information that arrives at the EMC is anecdotal, resulting in improper allocation of scarce resources. Indeed, after a major disaster a period of days may pass before a clear picture of the extent and level of damage begins to form at the EMC. In the meantime crucial decisions on resource allocation are made with only limited information. During the time period immediately following the disaster, individuals may clog the telephone network and harass officials at the EMC and elsewhere for information relating to their personal concerns. There is a great need to provide timely and accurate information to individuals in an automatic manner so that EMC officials are free to concentrate on coordinating disaster relief.
Unfortunately, the EMC that often sends in the first resource requests is the area least affected by disaster while EMCs located in geographical areas with heavy damage are typically overwhelmed and slow to assess the damage, as the emergency response personnel are occupied responding to immediate lifesaving tasks. Many times EMCs in heavily damaged areas are simply unable to determine what resources are required. Often the damage to the infrastructure, such as by way of example, highways, power transmission grids, water supply, condition of medical facilities, public buildings, etc., is so heavily damaged that it is difficult to even establish communication between EMCs to request assistance. Without accurate and timely information, there is a high risk of improperly allocating scarce resources.
When a large hurricane makes landfall, by way of illustrative example, up to forty-eight hours may pass before areas hard hit by the storm are able to re-establish communications. During this period there may be little accurate information available to the EMC as to the extent of the damage, or the exact resources that are required. Because of this information void at the central EMC during the period immediately following the disaster, it is difficult to provide adequate resources in a timely manner. To overcome the information void, Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) agents use portable information and communication devices, such as the GSC100 manufactured by Magellan, Inc., to relay information from established emergency locations to the EMC. This vital information, sent via a satellite communication system, includes the functional status of hospitals, the extent of property damage, the state of communications networks, and the condition of other infrastructure in the area affected by the disaster. Thus, the remote emergency centers are able to immediately begin collecting damage information through observation. The agents are able to observe downed bridges, blocked roads, destroyed buildings and numerous other items vital to accurate field assessment and analysis. Use of the information provided from the remote emergency centers is collected and manually tabulated to develop a more timely picture of damage caused in the disaster. Unfortunately, this system does not provide for real time assessment of the data at the EMC. Since decisions at the EMC must be made and resources allocated according to timely assessment of the damage, failure to accurately assess the scope and scale of the damage and allocate resources commensurate with the size of the disaster is possible. This type of failure to timely analyze the data is a fundamental problem that commonly occurs during and immediately following a disaster.
What is needed is a method and system for determining human casualties and inspecting infrastructure immediately after a disaster and for rapidly translating this information into a usable format for prompt analysis at the EMC or at other sites tasked with assisting in an emergency. A significant limitation under which the inspectors must operate arises because they only see a fragment of the disaster area and their immediate impressions may not reflect the situation as it exists in the entire area. What is needed is an emergency management system that provides reliable two-way communication capability that is separate from terrestrial-based communications networks and that is able to aggregate reports from widely dispersed locations within a geographical area in a timely manner.
It is an object of this invention to meet these needs by providing a real time management system for collecting information from geographical distributed locations comprising:
means for collecting information at geographically distribtuted locations and for assigning unique space-time coordinates associated with said infomation, said information and said associated space-time coordinates collected for subsequent transmission;
a communication network for transmitting said collected information and associated space-time coordinates;
means for establishing a connection between said information collection means and said communication network and for initiating the transmission of said collected information and associated space-time coordinates at a selected time; said establishing means coupled to said means collecting means;
a computer, coupled to said communications network, adapted to receive said collected information and associated space-time coordinates from said information collection means and for transforming said collected information and associated space-time coordinates into an event description and associated GIS data; said computer adapted to store said event description and associated GIS data in an event database and for accessing a reference geographic database to generate an event summary map that combines said event description with a previously generated base map; and
means for distributing said event summary map.
It is a further object to provide a system for managing the distribution of resources in response to a disaster comprising:
means for assessing damage at a location and communicating information regarding the damage, said damage assessing means comprising a portable communication device having a visual display for displaying a menu-based field assessment form displayed in a manner that prompts a user to enter information responsive to a plurality of displayed queries, a data entry device for generating data responsive to each query and means for retaining said responsive data; said field assessment means further comprising means for determining the location of damage and for appending information specifying said location to said responsive data;
a management center for receiving said responsive information and said location information; said management center having at least one server for parsing said responsive information and said location information to generate reports and maps; and
a communications network linking said damage assessing means and said management center for the transmission of information there between.
It is a further object to provide a method for obtaining and distributing information concerning field conditions in selected geographical areas comprising of the steps of:
acquiring field assessment information;
associating said field assessment information with space-time coordinates;
establishing a communication link for the transmission of said information and said coordinates at selected intervals;
transmitting said information and said coordinates to a management center;
parsing said information and said coordinates;
performing data analysis and data reduction to determine field conditions at said coordinates at a specified time;
creating reports summarizing field conditions at selected coordinates;
generating a map overlay that integrates said information and said coordinates with said reports;
distributing said map overlay and said reports.
It is a further object to provide a method for obtaining and distributing information regarding damage occurring over a large geographical area; said method comprising the steps of:
acquiring field assessment information;
appending longitude and latitude of the location of the damage;
establishing a communication link for transmitting field assessment information to an emergency management center; and
transmitting field assessment information to said emergency management center; Parsing the field assessment information to determine extent of damage;
generating a report of said damage;
generating a map overlay showing the location of said damage; and
transmitting said report and map.
The present invention provides real time field assessment data to emergency management centers (EMCs) through distributed communications networks. Significantly, the present invention collects field assessment information and generates intuitive graphical displays and summary reports to enable the prompt and accurate field assessment at the EMC. Communications directing the deployment of resources are then transmitted to a plurality of EMC and response personnel. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that after a disaster an EMC needs good and accurate information in the hours immediately following a disaster to allocate scarce resources and to assess the scope of the damage. Accordingly, other statistical tools are provided so that an analysis of the scope and magnitude of the disaster may be timely determined. Thus, the present invention provides timely and accurate information to the EMCs and enables the prompt and efficient allocation of scarce resources.
The emergency management system and method of the present invention incorporates facility inspections of highways, power transmission grid, public and private buildings, etc. after a disaster. Inspectors collect information regarding injuries, fires, downed bridges, blocked roads, destroyed buildings and numerous other items vital to accurate field assessment and analysis. This information is collected using hand held computers, intelligent field instruments, Internet enabled cellular telephones or other similar field devices. The present system and method may operate independently of the telephone network and the cellular telephone network if these networks are damaged. Accordingly, field inspectors"" reports can be transmitted to the EMC even if the land-based communication infrastructure is damaged or otherwise unavailable. Further, the present invention aggregates reports received from throughout a geographical area affected by the disaster and generates a comprehensive graphical evaluation showing the extent and location of the damage and the type of resources required to respond to the disaster.
The emergency management system and method of the present invention includes a database of baseline data and digitized maps that are maintained in a form that is readily available for use during emergencies. The baseline data may include population, available resources such as the number and location of emergency response vehicles, facilities such as refugee shelters, hospitals or schools etc., and other information that will be needed to respond to a variety of emergencies. The baseline data is preferably supplemented by additional resources from outside the geographical area affected by the disaster in real time. Thus, as outside aid arrives or becomes available, it is quickly integrated into the overall disaster relief plan and routed to the areas where it is most needed.
Field devices capable of collecting and transmitting accurate field assessment data to a central EMC or other field-based (that is, temporary) EMCs are widely distributed throughout a geographical area. These devices may be provided to local police and fire personnel or may be carried to a disaster area by military personnel or international observers such as, by way of example, the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. A xe2x80x98user-friendlyxe2x80x99 graphical interface and statistical analysis tools enable the display and analysis of field assessment data in real-time.
At the EMC, the baseline data and the maps are combined with real-time field data to generate graphical indicators of the damage in a geographical and/or summary report format and the type of emergency resources required in each of the damaged geographical areas. As outside resources arrive, the EMC is able to add the type of resource to the baseline data and generate a timely deployment to selected areas. The information from the EMC showing the extent of the damage and the available resources may be transmitted to other EMCs and field personnel so that the extent of the disaster is known to all and planning for how to respond to unmet needs is enhanced.
Communication between an EMC and field devices is real-time and two-way so as to enable development and management of timely response and recovery plans. In one preferred embodiment, the ORBCOMM satellite network links the field device with the Internet or other distributed network to provide a highly reliable communication system. Information collected by the inspectors or instruments is sent via an electronic message (e-mail) over the communication system to the EMC. Graphical or other information in packet form is transmitted from the EMC to one or a plurality of the field devices carried by the inspectors out in the field. In other embodiments where the existing land-based communication network remains functional, cellular telephones or radio communications networks are used to establish an Internet connection with the EMC. With the technological convergence of cellular telephone and personal information manager (PIM) computing devices, the field device may be a cell phone or a PIM having the ability to obtain GPS positioning information, to display graphical, audio, video and alphanumerical information and to send and receive electronic messages.
Deployment and operation of the present invention depends on various external factors, such as the population density of the geographical area covered by the EMC, the sophistication of the infrastructure, the availability of trained observers within the geographical area affected by the disaster, etc. However, there are several features, as will be described below, that will be present in each system regardless of the specific external factors.
In one embodiment, inspectors are deployed into a disaster area with hand-held portable field devices and assigned the task of collecting data indicative of the extent and location of the damage. The field device enables the inspector to collect field assessment information at specific locations using task-specific menus displayed by each field device. The field device also generates the inspector""s position using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The location information is automatically appended to the field assessment and transmitted to the EMC. Accordingly, the inspector does not need to be familiar with local landmarks or even the local language in order to determine their current location or the best route to take to the next location that needs to be inspected. Most importantly, the field device provides the capability to instantaneously transmit site-specific disaster assessment information via a reliable communications network to a plurality of EMCs. Inspectors use their field devices to identify and report injuries to the inhabitants and damage to the infrastructure in the affected area. With the present system and method, inspectors are able to rapidly input real-time field assessment for statistical analysis at the EMC. Field inspectors provide up-to-date information on injuries or potentially life-threatening conditions, the condition of roadways, bridges, buildings, health care facilities, and the extent of damage to electrical power, water and sewage services. This field assessment is organized in a menu-driven form displayed by the field device so the inspector is prompted for the necessary information in an orderly fashion. However, since disaster situations are often very fluid, it is possible that a pre-defined menu will be insufficient to accurately describe the required resources. Accordingly, the present invention provides the field inspector the option of supplementing information responsive to the menu input with a typed or voice message. Such supplemental information may also include graphical or video information.
When the EMC receives field assessment information from the inspectors, the data is processed to generate xe2x80x98up-to-the-minutexe2x80x99 graphical status reports and maps. This information is portrayed in graphical summary reports and on detailed maps, allowing the emergency managers to form a xe2x80x9cpicturexe2x80x9d of the extent and level of the disaster.
Additionally, the graphical presentation can be readily refined to meet the requirements of specific government agencies tasked with responding to a particular type of emergency. For example, a local EMC having responsibility for a particular geographical area such as a county or parish may generate reports and maps tailored to the location and time. This information is then made accessible to the inspectors as well as to the EMC managers concerned with routing emergency relief resources from areas outside the geographical area affected by the disaster. State or regional EMCs could use the same database to generate reports and maps that contain less specific information and more statistical analysis.
Based on aggregation and analysis of information received at the EMC, inspectors can be repositioned to rapidly generate a complete picture of the geographical area affected by the disaster. Because the present system and method guarantees two-way, real-time data flow, managers at the EMC will be able to track and manage the progress of the inspectors more efficiently than has been possible before. The real time information will also be available though the Internet to authorized officials or to the public as appropriate so that reports and maps will identify the areas most affected by the disaster as well as the type of resources required to minimize further injury or damage.
Advantageously instantaneous and precise delivery of real-time field assessments from the disaster area by trained inspectors deployed throughout the affected zone is provided in a timely manner. Updated summary reports and maps of the information available are continuously available on the Internet for use by state and local emergency managers authorized to view the real time geographical database. Greater access to information on the actual damage to the affected area improves communications between decision makers and provide better inter-governmental coordination at all levels.